Warren Diggles Photography and Design

Fellow photographer, Photoshelter user, and website customization customer Dave Pattinson asked me to help him add a new widget to his website that he read about while visiting the Photoshelter forum.

NiO RSS Thumbnail Gallery ← Free download and instructions available, a widget created for Photoshelter users by Johan Peijnenburg of Nio Photography.

This widget is free, incredibly flexible, and in my opinion a must for photographers with a website. Once installed it automatically creates a thumbnail slideshow from Photoshelter gallery RSS feeds. You can add multiple galleries per page, and the code uses CSS for styling so you have unlimited flexibility when designing the look of your galleries. This will allow you to match your current website design. For example the Joomla website for Pattinson Photography has two separate rss thumbnail galleries on the home page, New Images and Western Canada. We also installed the NiO RSS Gallery on his Wordpress for Joomla blog.

For my website the rss galleries are going to be an incredible time saver. I am using the thumbnail gallerie’s dynamic ability for the Commercial Photographer Colorado Photography portfolio page on my website. Previous to NiO RSS Gallery I was using a LightBox script which demanded that I create thumbnail size and large size images for each photo in my portfolio. Very time consuming, which kept me from updating my portfolio often. Now that I am using NiO RSS I can update my portfolio galleries easily using my current Photoshelter workflow.

Two features I would love to see in NiO RSS Gallery is the ability to randomize the thumbnail results so a different set of thumbnails is shown each time the page is viewed, not sure if this is possible with a RSS feed. The other feature is the ability to view an image in a slideshow directly from the thumbnails, instead of opening in the gallery image display page, this will give more of a gallery feel..

This post highlights a CSS Only Drop Down Menu that was modified for Photoshelter from Superfish CSS Drop Down Menu for Joomla!. The reason to use a CSS only menu is that for security reasons Photoshelter (Photography Websites), does not allow scripting to be imported into their templates. This is why a CSS only menu solution is the best solution for Photoshelter customization. Not only does a CSS only drop down menu work with Photoshelter, but it is faster than other web menu methods, and all the while contributing excellent SEO to your website.

Here are some links to working examples:
CSS Only Drop Down Menu Code
Colorado Stock Photography
Stock Photography of Western Canada

Here is a working example of SuperFish for Joomla! menu:
The Best Colon Cleanse Ever Made! - Original Joomla! Superfish component customized with rounded corners

Me with some of the familiar faces of Photoshelter
(Rachel, Me, Allen, Grover and Andrew - Photo by Mellissa Diggles)

If you have read my blog before you will know that I am a big fan of Photoshelter. If you are not familiar with Photoshelter, they are the place on the web where photographers get seen and sell their work. It is my opinion that Photoshelter provides photographers with the most complete set of tools available to maximize the benefits of the web. With my Photoshelter customization website northerncoloradophotography.com, I am able to set up a searchable archive for my stock images, provide traditional customers with access to their images via the web, offer online order fulfillment, and seamlessly integrate all of this with my existing portfolio website and blog.

While on a family trip to the east coast for our niece’s wedding I took the opportunity to visit the hub, the center, the heart of Photoshelter. When we got to Union Square where Photoshelter is located we noticed that a commercial photoshoot was going on, very cool, I thought that Photoshelter was behind it so I looked around a bit but came to the conclusion that they weren’t - the funny thing is that when looking at Photoshelter’s blog today there is a post about it - you can read about it on A Picture’s Worth.

Anyway, we found the building located at 33 Union Square West and headed on up to the second floor. When the elevator opened I saw the Photoshelter logo and knew we were in the right place. First I want to mention how friendly everyone is and how my family and I felt very welcome. After introductions and a brief tour I talked a bit with Allen and Andrew about marketing a photography website. They shared with me some of their insights and let me know they are getting close to unveiling the next set of PSA upgrades - can’t wait to see exactly what they are…

What I gathered from my visit reinforces what I already know, Photoshelter is about photographers. A company that is continuously providing us with web based infrastructure, effective web marketing tools and the knowledge to utilize both with the free SEO resources of sites such as Google, Twitter, Facebook and whatever comes next.

Thank you again Photoshelter for your hospitality. Allen, my family agrees, the pizza at Patsy’s is delicious!

{Edit 3/30/09}
Since FaceBook changed their interface my screen shots do not match the current FB website, and my new to me now old FB Fanpage looks a bit drab with the new FB interface. OK my first opinion is they are on the right track and I guess it is time to update the branding on my FB Fan Page. This is something that has just been put on the list of things to do…

Embedding a Photoshelter Flash Gallery to your Fan Page still works the same way, FaceBook just changed their interface so it will appear different.

More coming soon…er or later
{/Edit}

Photography and Marketing Facebook Fan Page - click link to see a Photoshelter flash gallery embedded to Facebook fan page and by all means become a Fan!

Before you can add a Photoshelter flash gallery to a Facebook fan page you need to install » More info embed Photoshelter flash gallery to Facebook fan page...

Do you have an upcoming marketing project that needs classic wedding imagery? These stock photography images taken at the historic Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado are our latest release. Now available for Rights Managed licensing from www.northerncoloradophotography.com, the wedding day images in this gallery are color, b&w, and sepia scans of 645 and 35mm negatives - classic Kodak black and white and Fuji color negative film. If you would like to use this gallery in your web page or blog for free, » More Classic Wedding Images

Official FREE Beeyond the Hive and Warren Diggles Photography “None of your Beeswax” image.

Embed this photo on your website or blog for FREE, click the arrow on the right to get the link information and embed this image on your website or blog. Courtesy of Beeyond the Hive and Warren Diggles Photography. This is the only version of this image that is available for free for any other use click on the image for details.

“Warren Diggles decided to “dig” into his customization and came up with a very different look. He also set up a CNAME so that he could use his own domain instead of PhotoShelter.com.” - By Allen Murabayashi A Pictures Worth Blog

Today, Photoshelter (The online storefront and archive for serious photographers) posted a story on A Picture’s Worth blog promoting PSA Site Customization. And they were kind enough to include the Photoshelter website customization of our website! For an example of what seamless customization compare how my current website warrendiggles.com compares with Photoshelter’s online storefront tools northerncoloradophotography.com!

If your company currently uses third party tools to add functionality to your website, contact us and we can explore the possibility of seamlessly customizing these features to your company’s online presence.

Photoshelter seamless website customization is a tool for photographers to create a custom website store “facade” or “skin” that will flow seamlessly with your current website architecture and design, or you can create a standalone website complete with a storefront for accepting online orders.

Being lucky enough to live at the gateway to the Rocky Mountains opens up many great opportunities for photography. Enjoy this gallery of images from The Colorado Rocky Mountains, you can even add it to your website or blog for free. Simply click the arrow on the bottom-right and copy the code to place in your website or blog. To purchase an image simply click on the picture you like and it will take you to www.northerncoloradophotography.com where you can buy Archival Limited Edition Photographic Art Prints, Canvas Gallery Wraps, or even license the full size digital file for marketing, editorial and personal uses.